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Crookston and Frazee jumped out to early leads to eliminate Park Rapids and United North Central in the quarterfinals of the Section 8A wrestling tournament Saturday at Thief River Falls.

No. 3-seeded Crookston jumped out to a 30-0 lead en route to a 42-28 win over No. 6 Park Rapids while No. 1 Frazee jumped out to a 33-0 lead en route to a 68-12 win over No. 9 United North Central. UNC opened the tournament with a 60-21 victory over No. 8 Red Lake County Central.

In the semifinals, Frazee defeated D-G-F 57-9 and Crookston edged BGMR 31-25. Frazee defeated Crookston 39-19 for the section title and a trip to state. Frazee is rated No. 1 in the latest state Class A poll while BGMR is ranked No. 11 and Crookston is rated No. 14.

Crookston relied on a similar formula to defeat Park Rapids for the second time this season.

In their regular-season meeting, Crookston jumped out to a 33-6 lead en route to a 44-30 victory.

The Pirates won the first six matches on Saturday to eliminate Park Rapids and advance to the semifinals. Javier Portillo (No. 3 at 130), Mariano Portillo (No. 6 at 135), Anthony Caputo (No. 3 at 145) and Brody Davidson (No. 7 at 215) led the Pirates with wins.

Zach Steffen ended Crookston's run with a 6-0 minor decision at 140 pounds.

After falling at 145, Park Rapids won four matches in a row to close the gap to 36-25.

Forrest Drury recorded a pin at the 3:12 mark at 152, Danny Pike had a pin at the 3:42 mark at 160, Jared Nash posted a 15-4 major decision at 171 and John Drury had a pin in 43 seconds at 189. Nash used a takedown and nearfall in the first period, a takedown and two nearfalls in the second period, and an escape and takedown in the third period to win his match.

Kenny Weaver ended the match with an escape in the second period for a 1-0 minor decision at heavyweight as the Panthers ended their dual season with a 10-13 record.

United North Central used eight pins and two forfeits to eliminate RLCC in the first round. Sam Tellers at 103, Jake Malone at 119, Kieler Skaro at 125, Max Aho at 140, Dylan Huttunen at 145, Taylor Carlson at 152, Tanner Berttunen at 160 and Bryson Vasey at heavyweight had pins for the Warriors. Max Pajari at 130 and Mike Johnson at 135 received forfeit wins for UNC.

In the quarterfinal match against Frazee, Aho's pin at 140 and Vasey's pin at heavyweight accounted for the Warriors' only wins.

The Section 8A individual tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Glyndon.